23/02 Fussen, Germany

Woke up at 0430 and took the tram at 0532. Because I didn't bring anythings for today, I went to buy 4 breads at the houbahnhof. They coated 2.7. It took around 2 hours to get to Fussen. We took the line73 to the castle. Today's tempearture was almost the same as yesterday's but today was very sunny and very little cloud in the blue sky. So happy!  We walked to the Alpsee, which was a lake near the castle. On our way, we saw the old castle on a hill next to us. The lake was very magnificent. There was a path nearby leading to the old castle. The old castle quite old, not that special. We stayed there for 10mins and then left. On our way to the bus stop, there were lots of Asian people like Korean, Japanese and of course Chinese, who were even outnumber the western people. We took the bus to the new castle which was located on a higher mountain. Once we got off, we went to a footpath and arrived at the Mary bridge, where was famous for the best spot of looking at the castle and taking pictures of it. This was also where the photos of most postcards were taken. The view was extremely marvelous, esp under such sunny, cloudless weather. The bridges were full of people taking pictures, not to mention us. Sarah helped me take instant photos but the first shot was failed. The photo was all white. I strongly believed that I didn't take out the films out of my bag and so they were scanned by the X -ray. WTF!!!! Then, she took second shot and lucily it was much better but the color was quite dim and still quite white. And the third shot was worse than the second one. I had used 3films out of 7 but none of them were of quality. So, I must find a way to buy films here or asked somebody help me bring the films here. After, we went toward the new castle bur didn't enter it. We took some photos of the front view of the castle. We then walked downhill and took the bus back to Fussen hbf. Because the train had not yet arrived, we decided to have a little walk at nearby streets. We found a shop that sold a lot of Germany -handmade houses,  which were very nice but sadly quite expensive. We then took the train at hbf. Because we bought very cheap tickets, we did a lot transfer. And unfortunately, we missed the second train at kaufbeuen as we were confused at the train direction. The train had 4 wagons and the first 2 headed to Lindau while the others headed to other location. So, 4 wagons were connected to each other but each of the 2 wagons would be divided at one station. This was the first time I experience that cars could be divided like that. And the next train arrived in two hours. We decided to walk around this kinda remote town, where was obviously not as well-developed as Mannheim. This town was very boring with very few tourist spots, only some churches. Finally, we were able to get through these boring 2hours and backed to Mannheim at 2200, which could be at 2000.

After these three days, I realize we need to pick good weather days to travel, or else we could not see the scenaries which was supposed to be very beautiful. In short, I like this 3-day trip and regrettably could not see the beautiful konigssee lake view. That's why i will come back to this place to fuifill my wishes. At last, I learn that when we transfer trains, just go to the right platform and check the arrival time of the coming train and take it. Just ignore the name of the final station or else you will be confused and missed train like we did.

 

22/02 Berchtegaden, Germany

I woke up at 0645 and felt still a bit dizzy and headache and my sore thorat was still not better. I took some pills and then put on clothes to get to berchtegaden. We bought hotdogs at Houbathhof station and took the train at 0755. During the train joirney, i saw quit a lot of snonw laying on the mountain. I hoped there will be some snow in konigssee. We got off at berchtegaden station and waited for line 841. We went to the tourist info centre to look for the map and boat cruise information. We them got off at Jennerbahn, where also was the cable station but we didn't take the cable becuz the weather was quite foggy and so the view may be quite blurry. We walked towards the konigssee and saw many skiing fans passing us on our way where was a skiing area nearby. We arrived the lake pier and the pier was beautiful with some snows on the trees and some ducks on the lake. But the trees were not very green, not the green in summer. We walked to the ticket centre and bought tickets to St baratholoma costing 13.9 Euro per person. During the boat trip, the staff told us the history of the lake and this lake was the most cleanest lake in Germany as the water here were not polluted. However, the guy almost all the time spoke in German and so we were not able to know much about what he tried to introduce. When the boat sailed near one side of the cliff, it stopped and one staff raised and played a trumpet and there were echos coming out from the top of cliff, which was quite surprising. About 35mins, we arrived at the church. Because Feb was not perk season and the weather were not good, only a handful of people coming here. We could see a wonderful lake view but with some withered, snowed tree and fogs in the background. When we walked along the lake, snow started to fall. We headed to the woods direction and saw some snows on the ground. The roads were wet and muddy with lots of.withered leaves. We tried to walk toward.to the lake of obseree but in vain because it took 3-4 hours to get to there and the last boat left at 1630. Actually the scenery could have been much more beautiful if the weather was fine. The trees could be very green  and we could see the reflection of the hills and trees on the water surface. Therefore, I will come back here again in summer and visit the upper lake Obseree and see the crystal clear lake with gorgeous nature landscape bebind.

21/02 Munich, Germany

This was so far the first short trip in Germany!!! We booked the meinferbus to Munich, and it costed only €15 but it took around 6 hours to get there. Munich was much colder than mannhiem, around 2-3 degree celcius. We went to meinimger hostel to do check-in first and put our stuff in their store room. The hostel looked better than I thought. And then we went to a palance first. But, unfortunately, although the roads nearby were quite pretty, the front yard of the palance was a disaster. The grass turns into mud, not green at all. Only the swans were the focus of the front yard. They were quite big and even not afraid of people. We went inside the souvenir shop, wondering to buy the museum ticket or not. There was a door inside the shop that can show the view of the backyard,which was also a disaster. That's why we gave up the museum and only took photos in front of the palance. If I come back to Munich in summer, perhaps I will visit there again. Afterthat, we went to the marienplatz to visit the landmark clock tower. The architecture and the scuipture were gorgeous. It was very beautiful for a old and historic building locating in a busy central area. Then we went inside the clock tower, which was the most highest apot that could let us look down the whole Munich. The view was amazing with different heights and colours of old buidlings like churches. Most of the colors of the roofs were orange, a bit like Heidelberg. But this one had no river but full of buildings. And then we went inside a sausage shop where had a variety of sausages. Some were very thick, black in color which were very interesting. We ate a bread with few slices of sausages in it, which tasted quite different from normal one. This was the first time to eat the famous sausage in Munich. Then, we went to a art museum which exhitbited many different special paintings. It costed €5. There was a combination ticket which coated €12 for 5 museum but we didnt have enough time to visit 5 museum. We tried to figure out what the paintings were about and the reasons behind. However, we were able to finish half of the museum before it closed. Later, we went to HB munich to have dinner. It was.famous for.pork haxes and so we ordered.two dishes. First one is gilled with crispy skins and with potatoes. The German pork knuckles were delicious but the thing was the potatoes were.very tasty. I had never eaten potatoes with such texture. It was quite soft but flexible. Another knuckles were boiled one. Both were very delicious. We ordered Munich dark beer which was 1L and €7.6. The beer was much tasty than normal beer. It was earlier to drink and not bittet. I finished the beer but already felt dizzy lol.  Nevertheless, , I had a taste of two most famous food and dark beer in munich, felt satisfied. It was all dark when we came out and we went back to the dorm and slept for tomorrow Konigssee: )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17/02 Mannheim, Germany

Such a wonderful weather but today was school day again.. And after I came here for 2 weeks, I just found in the lecture room that students had quite different learning methods. Many of the students ( I dont know where they come from, but not asian) like typing notes in their laptop. That's' why I always heard the sound from typing on their keyboards, which was kinda annoying, though I didnt pay much attention to some lectures Hahah. Then I had lunch with Tommy and Santi and it costed 3.5Euro.  At the evening, Santi, Tommy, Anson and me went to Emma's house and did some makeup for the Visum welcome party. And I put Hong Kong on my face with some black pens (Eyeline pen?.?)

becuz it is a bit complicated for me to paint Hong Kong flag on the face. Then, We went to the party and paid 1Euro for storing my coats and scarf there. The musics there were very great and people there including us kept dancing in a hyper mode. We danced with our friend met in last few gatherings. We standed very near the stage and the musics were very loud. We had a lot of fun there but afterthat felt quite tired. We left at 3am somthing and tended to skip the morning classes to get more hours to sleep :) But my French friend seem not like me skipping classes. I dont know why, maybe they will feel guilty. But in exchange semester, I dont care as long as I can pass the exams :)

 More photos to be uploaded.

16/02 Mannheim, Germany

 

Today is volleyball day!!! This is my first time to play volleyball in Germany. So, I woke up at 1245 and made a sandwich with some cheese, ham, eggs, lettuce and pieces of meat in it. But I boiled an egg and wasnt cooked-.- So i fried it on the pan. Also, I fried a slice of bread but it was scorched LOL. What a mess !! Finally, I made it and it was good. Then I went to play volleyball! I took line 6 to Luisenpark and walked to Mannheim Knights Uni-Sporthalle. There are some people going there too. And at the volleyball court, I am the only Asian guy here. Most of them I guess are German. Their skills of the guys there were quite good. I waited for the end of the first match. Then we teamed up against the winning team. One of my team member obviously was 40 something but he was still very good.  Because I havent played volleyball for 1.5 months and was questioning if my skills were still here. But, luckily they were still here and I played quite well in the matches. And some of them admire my skills and said I was an excellent setter. U know what? I was delighted at that moment!!! We won two matches out of three. During the break, a black, short guy came to me and asked where I was from. I guess he was the coach and he told me that I was good!! Then, we play volleyball for a little while. Seems he tried to know what I got. In general, the guys and girls there were very nice, at least they welcome an Asian guy. The training lasted for 1.5 hours and I had a lot of fun with them.  And if I have time, I must go again.

14/02 Ludwigshafen, Germany

HK Mafia went to Ludwigshafen which is very near Mannheim, just a river next to Mannheim. We took line 7 to get there. Actually we didnt know where to visit there. But then we went into a shopping mall called Rene Centre, where a lot of German brands could be found there. But I found Quiksilver there!! and the clothes there were quite different from HK but much more expensive. There were kids section but not in HK. The Rhine River nearby was not as beautiful as I expected. And then we went into another park, which I thought the view would be quite beautiful because the park was just along the Rhine River. However, this was not the case. The park was full of withered plants-.- This park would be quite beautiful if it is summer. Obviously, we picked a wrong place to visit!!! Then we went back to Mannheim to have hotpot with Isaac to finish the leftover. And we chatted about German culture. Like German or western people eat Doner very fast. They can finish a Bigger Doner in a shorter time. They just eat food to satisfy their physical need but not spend much time and effort on finding and eating delicious food. German girls only eat two meals a day and each meal is quite litte, obviously not enough for HK girls. That's why they are very slim. And one thing is that there is only one hook in the bathroom, and we find we cannot hang on the clothes and pants on that hook because they like hanging on their long bath towel and surrounding their bodies with it and put on their clothes at their room. After the hotpot, I went back to Anson's dorm to join their party and had fun with them.

13/2 Mannheim, Germany

Hotpot tonight!! Santi, Lucie, and Hk Mafia went to Hafenstrasse residence to have Chinese Hotpot. We bought the Chinese food like meatball and beef and soup base from an Asian supermarket. I havent had hotpot for few months and it was good to have it in Germany. We played Tischfussball, and we had a lot of fun there. Afterthat, we went to a bar nearby and drank a beer. Always drank be
er /.\

12/02 Mannheim, Germany

A friend of Santi's buddy has birthday on 12/02. We went to her place to celebrate her birthday. We drank some beers and played some beer game which was to flip a coin into a cup and there were two cups. If you flip a coin into a cup, you can pass the cup to the one next to you. And if you fail to flip it and finally got two cups, you need to drink. This game was quite interesting. Afterthat, we went to a club which was in the basement of that building. we danced a bit with the music. It was nice.

10/02 Mannheim, Germany

Semester starts today!! My first lesson is Corporate Governance at 12:00. Not that early! I have this lesson with Tommy and it takes us few minutes to find the correct venue and we are on time!! The lecture room is more or less the same as HK's. It is within my expectation that first lesson is very boring and there are two lecturer introducing the course structure and some news about Corporate Governance. And i think there are only me and Tommy who are Chinese in the lesson. And we had dinner at Mensa, where is filled with lots of students. Suddenly, I feel like one of the exchange students in PolyU who are not the local and are speaking different languages and eating alone at the canteen. But luckily, I am not alone for my lunch !! This time I put 50 Euro in my ecUM card and pay at a discounted price which is 2.8 Euro. My first meal in the campus us!! But the taste is um.. ok la.

 Afterthat, we went to the library to check how it is like. The self-studying area is quite small. PolyU's library is way bigger than here. And we go to gym room which is outside the campus cuz Tommy may do workout. Then, he leaves for lesson and I go around the streets nearby and find there are some nice buildings nearby but it starts to rain.

Before, I go back to Paradeplatz tram station, I go to H&M and some of the clothes cost 20 Euro which is more expensive than HK's but the clothes here are more trendy.
Then I take line 1 to Kurfland to buy juice. However I get lost on my way back to dorm. WHAT THE FUCK ! I look at the offline Google Map and try to go back to the main road. I dont want to ask somebody which way is correct. I want to find the way back dorm myself. Finally, I make it but it takes me 30-min walk but in fact it is only 10mins walk. I feel a bit tired when I am home. I take a little rest and go to Anson's dorm and Lucie makes pasta and watch the latest episode of The Walking dead. I think Anson and me should go find receipt on the internet and cook meals for Lucie and Santi cuz they often share their meals to us. Feel kinda guilty hah.

08/02 Heidelberg, Germany

Hkers, Lucie, Santi and Margot (Lucie friend) went to Heidelberg today. Today was a bit cloudy and probabilily rainy. We took the DB train at Mannheim train station and it took around 20 mins from Mannheim to Heidelberg. The streets there heading to the castle are very beautiful and we went into two churches there. I had bought two postcard outside the church. Then we had a lunch there and the food there were quite nice.

 

 

 

 

Then we walked up to the Castle and we needa pay 4 Euro to get inside. The view from the castle was fantastic. I just love the old buildings. After we get down, we went to the shops at the ground floor and some were very beautiful but expensive.

 

 

 

07/02, Mannheim, Germany

 After campus tour and welcome session, Hkers, Lucie, Santi and I went to eat Turisk Doner, French Fried, which made me very full. Becuase the bar they wanna go was full, then bought beers back to Anson's dorm with Emma, Naiana and drank ttogether with Anson's roommate and played some beer games, which were interesting to me. The one from Lithuania finally appeared and drank together but she was quite creepy and so silent all the time

06/02 Mannheim, Germany

Santi and I went to his buddy's home and had some ltalian food called lavagn (if it is right) with some germans. The food tasted really good. I drank some, I guess, tequila. Once that came into my mouth, I felt there was burning inside my month and throat.  That was very strong. And then went to a bar to play table football but only drank only some there before I and santi went back to the dorm.

05/02 Mannheim, Germany

We went to the info centre at the University to get my student ID card, which is quite nice.
But the ID card was not working-.- and so could not validate it and could not put money into the card. We then had lunch with the HKers and Lucie at the caferteria at the campus and ate a meal cost 5.13 Euro, which was expensive because I couldnt enjoy 20% discount with the ID card. It is a German sausage, rice, fried potatoes, chicken with some BBQ and curry sause. It was priced by weight of the food and it tasted OK. Then went to attend the orientation session of business students which was quite boring. Afterthat, I took some brochures for sports in the school and I think I will going to enrol the volleyball team. Let's see who is better hahhah! At night, Santi, Lucie, and we went to Cafe Vienna with HKers, Emma (UK), Naiana (Brazil), and two french girls and drank some german beers again and had a lot of fun with them.

04/02 Mannheim, Germany

04/02 Mannheim, Germany

We went to the Deutuche Bank(biggest bank in Germany) to open a bank account and the staff there were very nice and good in English. Then went to registration office and luckily we met two HKers from CU finally. And I bought a router for WIfi at dorm at SATURN and share the cost with my roommate and bought a nice glass from Moma. In afternoon, Anson and I went to Rhine River and took some nice photos with sunset as a beautiful background. We had visited a church and found a store called 1Euro, where lots of things there are 1Euro. And at the dorm, Santi made some pasta with cheese and tomatoes and tastes good.
We then had a little chat and some drink with the Spanish, Indian and others with some awesome musics, which was like a party, during which there was a new roommate coming to their dorm who come
s from Lithuania (Eastern Europe). The music was quite loud. Hope wont disturb her sleep.